New York (Platts)--13Apr2010/522 am EDT/922 GMT

The oil and natural gas industry is "under attack" on the tax, environmental and hedging fronts, though industry has made some inroads with lawmakers, Bruce Vincent, chairman of the Independent Petroleum Association of America, told IPAA conference attendees Monday.

"Perhaps the most consistent theme remains access--whether it's access to Capitol Hill, capital markets, or leaseholders," Vincent, who also is president of Swift Energy, said at IPAA's Oil & Gas Investment Symposium in New York.

Vincent lashed out at the President Barack Obama administration for threatening to do away with tax breaks in practice since the first quarter of the 20th century, including the intangible drilling costs and percentage depletion. "Higher taxes equals less production and less investment," Vincent said. "Energy tax legislation should not pit one form of energy against another."

Vincent credited the "IPAA advocacy team" for "keeping some tax provisions off the table," but Obama "has not relented" on intentions to impose new taxes on energy producers. "Almost every single tax provision we have has been targeted for elimination," Vincent said. "These are not subsidies, they are incentives."

Vincent also said the industry is "being targeted" by environmentalists who oppose hydraulic fracturing. "These activists have been targeting hydrofracturing," and contend that fracturing contaminates water.

"Contending so doesn't make it true," Vincent said, adding that there was a "coordinated effort to stop fracturing at all cost."

Environmental groups and the exploration and production industry crossed swords last week over how narrow or broad a US Environmental Protection Agency study of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water should be.

While industry argues there has yet to be a single instance of drinking water contamination due to fracking, residents near gas wells in Colorado and Pennsylvania have reported that they had their drinking water spoiled by the ruptures of the casings around the bore holes of gas wells, according to reports confirmed by state regulators.

Of plans by the US Environmental Protection Agency to launch a widely anticipated study to examine the impact of hydraulic fracturing on water quality and public health, Vincent said. "We will participate in yet another study," so long as the study is "scientific and peer-reviewed and comprehensive and has input from state regulators."

The scope of the study should be limited to underground water supplies, not air emissions and water and surface issues, he said.

Vincent was more optimistic about industry eventually winning exemption by Congress on derivatives regulation, but doubtful that the Obama administration will meet goals to open up new areas up for exploration and production.

"It's up to the administration to fast track that," Vincent said. "What we've seen from this administration, we don't expect that to happen, but we have to be hopeful."

--Leslie Moore Mira; leslie_moore@platts.com